Best of

the Twin Cities

Best Politician

Gov. Mark Dayton

In this Age of Great Weirdness, it’s hard to find a politician who isn’t a wholly owned subsidiary of moneyed benefactors (cough, Erik Paulsen), or hasn’t succumbed to some strange, preening form of mental illness (cough, cough, the president). Enter Gov. Mark Dayton. He can be unpredictable and maddeningly acquiescent at times. But the millionaire everyman is also the one pol who can be counted on to always put the needs of regular people ahead of those with fat pockets. With the Legislature now in full attack mode on everything from wages to the environment to urban transit, Dayton is the singular blockade keeping Minnesota from turning into Mississippi. Or, worse, Wisconsin.